BCEMS opening Ponderay station

PONDERAY — Bonner County EMS announced on Monday it is constructing a new station to improve response times in northern and eastern portions of the county.

The new station, which was included in the spending plan for the 2020 fiscal year, will be located on county property on Kootenai Cutoff Road near Highway 200.

“This will provide an Advanced Life Support paramedic ambulance to respond quickly in the Ponderay and Kootenai communities, northern Highway 95 corridor, as well as providing quicker paramedic intercepts to the Hope and Clark Fork areas covered by the Clark Fork Valley Ambulance,” BCEMS Director Jeff Lindsey said in a news release.

Lindsey said those areas account for more than a 1,000 medical calls each year.

The department has two ambulances stationed in Sandpoint and Lindsey said one of the rigs could be positioned more strategically.

BCEMS Station 4 would join stations 1 (Sandpoint), 2 (Priest River) and 3 (Sagle).

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.